update on the keffiyeh as fashion…

Here’s a strange follow-up to my blog about the Arab/Palestinian keffiyeh’s transition to high fashion: up until recently the American hipster clothing store Urban Outfitters had keffiyehs for sale - only they called them “anti-war scarves,” bizarrely enough. But if you go to the Urban Outfitters webpage and do a search for “anti-war scarf” today, (click here to see for yourself) you’ll find this instead:

“Anti-War Woven Scarf
Due to the sensitive nature of this item, we will no longer offer it for sale.
We apologize if we offended anyone, this was by no means our intention.”

In the past Urban Outfitters has sold T-shirts that say “Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl” adorned with dollar signs and shopping bags, perpetuating the racial stereotype of the Jewish American Princess, as well as T-shirts that say “Shalom! Jerusalem” printed over a graphic of the Israeli flag, glamourously adding to the debate over whether Jerusalem belongs to Israel or Palestine.